The popularity of motocross, off-road racing and just off-road riding has greatly increased in the last decade and has brought with it an increasingly sophisticated line of protective equipment. There are now upper torso and arm protectors that are very commonly used, and are very lightweight, tough and durable. They are made of plastic, and in the state of the art are lined on the inside and the tough plastic exoskeleton is provided with a multiplicity of relatively closely spaced slots, both to reduce the weight of the armour, but primarily to permit ventilation and the evaporation of sweat, inasmuch as off-road racing and riding is often done in warm conditions.
There are naturally continuing design feature conflicts to be considered in the protectors, such as weight versus effectiveness, quality of materials versus exposure, and so forth. One such conflicting consideration is the flexibility of the protector versus its effectiveness. Obviously, the most flexible protector would be something the nature of a long sleeved t-shirt, which offers none of the desired protection at all. The upper body portion must provide as much rigidity as possible to prevent against gauging and puncture injuries from stones, branches and rocks, especially when the rider falls.
The conflicts between flexibility in use and rigid protection against such injuries becomes apparent when considering the design of the shoulder area of the state-of-the art protectors. It is desirable to protect the shoulder somewhat beyond the shoulder articulation. However, to do so would limit the ability of the arm to move upward, and could conceivably even cause injury to the upper arm if, during a fall, it were forced upwardly against a rigid shoulder protector. This conflict has lead to the development of a pivotal shoulder protector, commonly called an epaulet. Typically, these epaulets are free to pivot up out of the way when the upper arm is raised. When the arm is lowered, some models have a strap connected to an upper arm piece which pulls the epaulet back down in position. Although gravity might accomplish this, the epaulet pivots primarily horizontally, and it would be questionable whenever it would come back into position without the strap.
However, the upper arm protector already has one strap in most models which connect it to the main body of the torso protector, so that the second strap between the upper arm protector and the epaulet merely adds to the problem and dangers inherent in straps, i.e., snagging on passing branches, breaking, and even the fact that they look somewhat tattered as they are exposed. There is a need for an effective means of insuring that the epaulet returns to its lowered position, but a means which is protected from passing brush, is out of sight, and is virtually fool-proof.